Samuel Y. Golding, president of the Newington company, would not discuss specifics of the Chapter 11 filing at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bridgeport, though he vowed Standard Structural Steel soon would grow again. With a peak work force of about 300 slightly more than a year ago, the company now has about 50 workers.

`We've got some hurdles to overcome but we will prevail," Golding said of the 70-year-old company whose products include girders for bridges. "We are in demand. There is a tremendous need for infrastructure work."

In a statement to workers, he attributed the need for the filing to cash flow problems, "which have come about, primarily because of the long delay in collections from the state of Connecticut and creditor pressure."

Reached later, Golding said he could not elaborate.

Patrick O'Neill, president of Local 832 of the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Ironworkers, said one of the problems has been a dispute with the state over payments for work done on the Commodore Hull Bridge in Derby and Shelton. Local 832 represents the company's blue-collar workers.

A spokesman for the state department of transportation said Standard Structural Steel has been paid for its originally contracted work on the bridge, though the company has made claims for additional work.

"We are now trying to set up a negotiation process with them to discuss and resolve the matter," said Bill Keish, the DOT spokesman. Keish said he did not know how much money was at stake.

O'Neill said the union took the company to court in January because it had failed to make payments into the workers' pension fund. Workers also have seen their health benefits cut back, he said.

O'Neill urged Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. to step in and help resolve conflicts over state payments. And, he said, the state should work to award contracts to troubled Connecticut companies

like Standard Structural Steel.

"We understand the position they are in because a lot of our companies are there," O'Neill said. "The big problem is the state is awarding contracts out of state and we aren't getting the work."

In his statement, Golding said the Chapter 11 filing would guarantee that none of the company's creditors gets an advantage over the others. He said it would "give us the opportunity to pay everyone in a fair and orderly manner."

O'Neill said his members want to help the company survive.

"The union has been trying to work with them," he said. "We haven't walked out on the plant, which we could have done on the pension plan. And we have been cooperative in trying to save jobs, so this company can come back and get work."